Methods of engaging your customers
But the direct method of engagement is appropriate only when you have sheer dominance over the competition, for all or part of a customer’s need. But let’s face it: Few companies command such superiority that customers instantly recognize, especially these days when product superiority seems to disappear in a nanosecond.
In such cases, Sun Tzu’s second method of engagement is called for:
Sun Tzu’s Second Method of Attack: Indirect – "Appear where you are not expected."
Walk softly and carry a big shtick
Recall a famous scene from the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones has just used a whip with considerable skill to fend off a few villains when he comes face-to-face with a man equally skilled but with a three-foot sword, which he twirls in front of Jones.
The audience watches in eager anticipation of an interesting but apparently fair battle: sword against whip. Instead, Jones suddenly pulls out his revolver and shoots his opponent.
One key to implementing the indirect method of engagement is timing. If Indiana Jones makes it known that he intends to use a revolver in this confrontation, his opponent would not be so foolish as to engage in the battle.
So it goes in selling. When you’re about to change the ground rules in a sales campaign, you should almost always do it late in the sales cycle to prevent the competition from adjusting. The exception occurs when the competition has no remotely credible way of pulling a "We can do that, too" counterattack.
Remember the obvious: "Go where they ain’t!" As you size up your selling situation and your competition, ask yourself how you can lead with a perceived strength of your own against a perceived weakness of your competition.
Practically speaking …
Here’s an illustration of an indirect method of engagement from the world of management consulting:
The consulting firm Coopers & Lybrand placed a series of print ads that showed a large picture of an ancient Chinese sword. The ad’s caption read, "Does your consultant quote The Art of War but shy away from battle?"
Coopers & Lybrand was attempting to change the ground rules for the purchase of management consulting services from "providing theoretical strategic advice" (quoting The Art of War) to "facilitating the implementation of strategy" (engaging in the "battle") — something its competitors are not particularly strong at doing.
The unexpected pitch
One can even use an Indirect method when responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP).
A highly structured "sealed bid" Request for Proposal from a very large industrial company solicited proposals for its natural gas supply. As is true with most RFPs, the requesting company in this case planned to compare proposals from multiple gas suppliers and select the lowest price offering.
But my client’s sales pro had different plans for her response to the RFP. Julie changed the ground rules from quoting the "lowest wellhead price" — the measure typically used to compare natural gas prices that the Request for Proposal contained — to quoting "total energy cost," and she won the deal. Julie’s last-minute timing was essential to prevent her competitors from attempting the same approach.
When the fat lady is about to sing
Another situation in which you would implement an Indirect method of engagement is when you’re losing or you’ve lost. When it becomes clear that the customer is going to buy from your competition, whether because your offering just isn’t as strong or because you’ve been otherwise outsold, your only option is to attempt to delay the purchase altogether.
This derivative of the indirect method relies, in part, on sowing FUD — Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. It centers on communicating a message that says if the customer waits just a little longer to make a decision, the seller will be able to provide a solution far superior to the one currently under consideration or at a far more attractive price, or will otherwise offer some significant benefit to the customer who delays or changes the buying decision.
A day late and a dollar … faster
In December 1998, for example, Hitachi Data Systems placed a number of ads to promote its soon-to-be-released Skyline II computer. Several lines of text in those ads said that Hitachi’s Skyline I was currently the fastest computer in the world. The main caption of the ad said:
"During 3Q ’99, the fastest mainframe on the planet will be moving almost two times faster. Look to the Skyline II."
It’s interesting that at the same time that ad appeared in late 1998 and early 1999, IBM was releasing its latest box, whose speed eclipsed that of Hitachi’s Skyline I.
Clearly, Hitachi was attempting to encourage customers to delay their purchase of a computer for just a few quarters, at which time Hitachi would be able to deliver an even faster machine than the new IBM.
Putting the competition on the defensive
We’ve covered Direct and Indirect; next month we’ll talk about misdirection. I’ll show you how exposing your own competitive weaknesses can turn them into strengths, and turn your competitor’s strengths into weaknesses.
Jerry Stapleton is president of Mequon-based Stapleton Resources LLC and author of From Vendor to Business Resource: Transforming the Sales Force for the New Era of Selling. For more than 10 years, he has been showing companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500, how to sell to large accounts. E-mail: jstapleton@stapletonresources.com ; Web site: www.stapletonresources.com
Pragmatic positioning
–when you’re the underdog
It’s great to be on top–to have the best product, the best service. But staying on top is often harder than getting there in the first place. So what do you do when you’re not head and shoulders over the competition?
In this installment of his series based on his new book, From Vendor to Business Resource, Jerry Stapleton shows how to go beyond theory and apply Sun Tzu’s Indirect Method of Attack to your sales approach.
Free on the Web
For an excerpt from Jerry Stapleton’s new book, From Vendor to Business Resource, go to www.FV2BR.com
April 12, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
